Translated material
My apartment in Spain was occupied
On New Year's Eve of 2024, squatter, or “instructions” settled in one of Oleg Pokrovsky’s apartments in Barcelona - hacked the door, threw his mother’s things out of the window and remained there to live there. He called the police, but they did not expel the new residents of the apartment, because there was a pregnant woman among them. In despair, Oleg and his brother decided to return to the apartment themselves and take her back, while there was no one at home. This time, the police were called by squaters - the Pokrovsky brothers were arrested and sent to prison for two days. Oleg went to court and won him, but the “instructions” still do not go away, and special services are inactive in eviction. Pokrovsky told the "cold" about how all these events took place and why it is so difficult to defend their right to property in Spain.
The police sided with the invaders. I tried to return the housing, but I went to jail myself
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I have been living in Barcelona since 2015, and I have several apartments here. I bought one of them in 2018. She cost a little more than 200 thousand euros, but I took her in a mortgage. Then I remotely worked as a financier for a British company: I had a good salary, so there were no problems with the bank when issuing a mortgage.
I lived in my other apartment, and first I rented a new one on a long -term lease, but after a couple of years I stopped. For some time after that I rented an apartment for tourists, but when in 2023 the inspection discovered that I was doing this without a special license , I wrote me a fine of 60 thousand euros. This is half the auction value of housing - more than my initial mortgage contribution. The courts are still going on this matter.
I stopped renting an apartment, prescribed my mother in her and left her things there. She lives in Belarus, but spends about six months in Barcelona with me and my brother.
"It is cold outside, and among them is a pregnant woman"
On New Year's Eve 2024, my mother and brother and I were in my old apartment. On the morning of January 1, the administrator of the building contacted me where my new apartment is located, and asked if I had sold it. To my response, she said: "So she was occupied."
What is the occupation of an apartment?
The capture of apartments in Spain is one of the main problems in the country's real estate market. People occupy other people's houses and apartments in the absence of owners - and it is very difficult to evict them from there. In Spanish there is a special word for such people - “OKAPAS”.
“Pestures” appeared back in the 1980s-after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco-as the movement of young anarchists. In Spain, there are many abandoned or ownerless housing, as well as buildings owned by banks and investment funds. Traditionally, it was precisely these houses that “praises” chose, turning empty buildings into residential buildings or social centers.
After the economic crisis of 2008, the phenomenon became more noticeable . Then, due to the fact that people could not pay a mortgage, banks took away housing and it remained empty. There were organizations that fought for the rights of mortgages - without even paying contributions, they remained in their apartments.
The number of seized apartments increased during the Pandemia of Coronavirus in 2020 - then the “praises” were settled in empty tourist housing. According to official figures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Spain, from 2019 to 2023, the number of messages about illegal seizure increased by 40%.
The Law of Spain Squotting (unauthorized settlement in abandoned or unoccupied houses) is prohibited , but there are loopholes used by “instructions”. If the property is not properly protected and left unattended, it becomes vulnerable to capture. Once inside, squatter can change locks and, if they are not expelled from the apartment within 48 hours, they will receive the right to inviolability of the home. In 2023, more than 15 thousand cases of hacking and unauthorized penetration or seizure of property were recorded in Spain.
At the same time, in the past few years, the “praises” have been settled not only in empty buildings, but also in the apartments where people are registered or live. The legislation of Spain distinguishes the seizure of the apartment in which someone lives, and the premises in which no one lives. In the first case, the actions of the squaters are considered a more serious offense and it is easier to evict them from the busy dwelling.
My brother and I immediately went there. A few years ago, we already came across this - then we occupied his apartment, but those people quickly managed to expel. Sometimes, if you quickly take measures and not give the “praises” the opportunity to settle in the apartment, that is, a chance to drive them out by the police, without trial. The police often focus on a period of 48 hours, although this is not in the law yet.
When we arrived, from the moment of capture, a few hours passed. The neighbors said that at night they saw how they hacked our door. Then, according to them, the police came to the noise, the employees of which “Pestures” said they bought an apartment. The documents did not show - they lied that they were at the notary. The police turned around and left without checking this information.
We again called the police and explained that they did not sell an apartment to anyone, and people are illegally in it. Inside there were my mother’s things, which “payders” were thrown from the balcony. The police entered, talked with them and told us: “We do not want to throw these people out into the street. It is cold there, and among them a pregnant woman. ”
Squaters turned out to be the Colombians: two men and a woman. Having arrived in Barcelona , they first went to occupy housing. According to the law , after 48 hours, in the apartment, “Pestures” receive certain rights: not to be evicted without a court decision and receive utilities. And the owner of the apartment does not have the right to break the door. They can imagine the address of my apartment as their official place of residence in any instance.
I almost gagged my eyes
It seems to me that someone helped “pay payments”-in Barcelona there are entire groups that are engaged in this. In the same house there is an apartment of my brother, who was also occupied on New Year's Eve. Dominicans climbed there, but their police poured out of there. When I asked what they think about another apartment, they repeated: "They stay because there is a pregnant woman there."
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It seems to me that the “instructions” knew that the police would not do anything because of the pregnant woman. Although then I spoke with other police officers, and they told me that the police often evict people, despite pregnancy and other circumstances. And we were not lucky with the patrol who decided to regret them.
I asked Squaters how much they could move out for, but they replied that they needed not money, but housing for a long time. Then it became clear that there was no point in negotiating with them.
Several times we came across them on the landing. One of them was very aggressive and once attacked me with a knife - cut his nose and almost got into the eye. I said this to the police, but I do not know which procedural decision was eventually made.
They were handcuffed on us and took it to jail
I began to look for companies that evict the “pestles”. They do it without trial: with the help of negotiations or force. But their services were very expensive - on average about 10 thousand euros.
In order not to pay crazy money, my brother and I decided to go and agree. It turned out to be not difficult to get into the apartment: the “praises” broke the front door, and she stopped closing. Instead, they set the door from the bathroom, but it did not fit in size, so it also did not close.
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We decided to be knocked out by the wedge: to go into the apartment and, when the “instructions” appear, call the police and say that someone is breaking to us. We thought that they were probably armed with knives, so they closed: they put the door to the washing machine so that they could not knock it out.
On the dining table, we saw a white substance packaged in bags. I think these were drugs. According to rumors, this is a typical story - when people capture housing to sell substances. I think that a pregnant woman was a cover for them.
Soon after we went into the apartment, “instructions” appeared with the police. They wanted to enter, but I did not let them in and spoke with them through the door - explained that I was the owner and I was at home. In the end, they came to us and said that we should be noted from there. “Maybe this is your property, but this is not your housing, other people live here,” they repeated. The police did not pay attention to substances on the table.
The brother shot everything on the video because he thought that we could apply for the actions of the police. The police beat him for this, and also selected the phone and said that he would be attached to the case as evidence ( the "cold" could not verify this information) .
The handcuffs were put on us, taken to prison and made us accusations. The first is that we went into the apartment without the permission of the people who lived there. We were also accused of replacing the castles, ruined the door and allegedly threatened someone, although when we came, there were no “percopus” at home and we did not encounter them. We were also charged with the fact that we inflicted bodily harm to the pregnant woman who announced us to the police (Pokrovsky provided the editorial with a fragment from the indictment, but the document refused to fully refuse with reference to the fact that it contains confidential information. - approx. "" "" " Cold ") . She did not find anything in the hospital, but the statement itself remained in the department.
According to the police protocol, which is at the disposal of the Cold, Oleg Pokrovsky was detained that "illegally entered the dwelling with the use of force, attacked victims with a hammer, threatened to make them leave housing, replaced the locks and ruined the door."
The most serious accusation was brought to us in the fact that we allegedly inflicted bodily injuries. For this in Spain, threatens up to five years of imprisonment. While the police took us to prison, the “praises” wrote a statement to the court that we would be issued a court order prohibiting us to approach the house of Squaters by 150 meters. Fortunately, the judge did not give him out: my brother has an apartment in the same house, and that would be a complete absurdity.
We were kept in the cell for two days. At the time of the trial, the judge released us to freedom, and we came to see what was happening with the apartment. There was already a armored door.
A few weeks later, the judge decided to return the phone to her brother, who sent a video with the police to one Spanish edition. History interested Daily Mail, they also published an article about this. Our case eventually reached the Belarusian media.
I pay a mortgage for the occupied apartment
When the apartment was occupied, we immediately wrote a statement about this. It went to court, where the case was “archived”, because the judge said that criminals cannot be identified (the court could temporarily terminate the criminal case due to the lack of sufficient evidence of the crime or the impossibility of establishing the guilty. The case may be resumed if new evidence or begins to be known New circumstances - approx .
“Maybe this is your property, but this is not your housing, other people live here,” the police said.
My lawyer wrote a new application to the court in April - after almost four months. He asked for evictions anyone, because any people, except the owners, are illegally in the apartment. In court, the invaders said that they receive help from the Red Cross, do not work anywhere and they cannot be evicted.
Despite this, my brother and I were able to win the court (a copy of the court decision is at the disposal of the editorial office. - Approx. "Cold") . Squaters should have set a eviction date - a special public service is working in Spain for this. But she is inactive: she waits for the higher courts, including the appeal, will stand on our side. If the “instructions” lose the next trial, the theory can be set in theory. But we still do not know when it will take place.
It seems that they have seriously settled in our apartment: they have been living there for more than a year and will spend at least a few more months in it. All this time I continue to pay a mortgage. I can’t use the apartment, but I pay money for the maintenance of the house and the territories adjacent to it. No responsibility for non -payment is removed from me.
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In general, the occupied housing remains the property of the owner. It takes a lot of time to evict people living there (in November 2024, a law began to operate in Spain , according to which the authorities will reduce the terms of trials on the cases of illegal seizure of houses. - Approx. "Cold") .
My lawyer initially said that the case is simple: I provide documents about the right of ownership, they show nothing, and it closes on this. But it turned out that in court the “praises” demanded that I give them this housing for free. Their lawyer argued that I bought an apartment in 2018. He considered that six years - this is enough for me to transfer it to other people (the editors could not verify this information. - Approx. "Cold") .
Better not take housing in Spain
The occupied apartment will return to us, but it is not clear what it will be in the state. I heard that sometimes, when evicted, “praises” completely destroy housing: they spoil everything that can be broken and disfigured. Even if I sue and ask for compensation, they are unlikely to be paid, because they have no official work.
In general, the situation is very offensive: this apartment is very dear to me, shortly before the occupation, I made a major overhaul there. And there were several paintings that my dad painted before his death. This is the most valuable for me, because the furniture and walls can be restored, but the memory of the father does not.
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I have many friends from other European countries: for example, from France and Italy . They personally did not encounter this, but they say that such situations happen not only in Spain. For example, in the south of France, the tenant can simply stop paying for an apartment, and two years will take his eviction.
If someone wants to buy housing in Spain, I would advise this person to think many times. Here you can live well if you do not own andrent housing. If you don't like something, you can move out at any time. And buying an apartment here brings more problems than pluses.
Of course, you can put alarm in the apartment, but this does not always work. Alarm worked in my brother’s apartment, but the company that serves it did not consider it necessary to call the police. The police themselves say that she will not be able to protect from occupation, but simply indicate the time when people went there.
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Author: Marina Kiryunina Photo: provided by Oleg